Vahlka Shadowbane
Vahlka Shadowbane is a player character in Dexter Fawkes's ''Heroes of Legend ''campaign, in the Teshol setting. Appearance and Personality Vahlka is a small, thin, and wiry drow woman. She stands at about 5'3" and weighs about 150lbs, every bit of it muscle. She is incredibly strong despite her small stature, wearing heavy armor and exclusively using two-handed weapons. Vahlka has extremely long white hair which when unbraided drags along the ground, but it is often worn in many intricately braided styles for the sake of practicality. She has a couple scars and several body piercings. Vahlka's fastidious with appearances, and refuses to wear anything that is not black. Vahlka is, for lack of a better term, very drow. She is ruthless, cunning, and domineering at the best of times. Sadistic and downright cruel at the worst of them. She values strength above all other virtues and has little patience for weakness or cowardice. She is also extremely prideful, often to the point of self-destruction - she constantly overestimates her own abilities and very rarely backs down from a fight. Vahlka enjoys violence to a degree probably unhealthy and certainly uncouth in any society save that of the Drow. Despite her prickly nature; Vahlka is affectionate and sociable when she's in a good mood. However, she despises physical affection or open displays of emotion and bristles up like a spooked cat if hugged or made to talk about her feelings. She possesses a strange sense of honor for a Drow, refusing to raise a blade against her allies if they fight at her side and often throwing herself in the way of danger at the slightest provocation for her friends. As to whether that's affection or bravado, who can say? Vahlka is passionate, scrappy, and quick-witted, possessing a sarcastic and dry sense of humor and a sharp tongue. She's uncommonly verbose, and speaks with the tone of voice of someone who is accustomed to being obeyed without question. She is nothing if not eloquent and can be persuasive when she needs to be despite her propensity to jump to violence. Backstory Despite her generally prickly disposition, Vahlka has been rather forthright about her history. Vahlka spent her youth living within Umbravall alongside her younger sister Andrith; born to a family of lower-class nobility. Vahlka has spoken very little of her father, but has suggested at length that she despises her mother Ursula Shadowbane and would one day like to kill her. Vahlka has also spoken about her family's Black Amber mine, and has suggested that it is worth a good bit and that it is her eventual birthright. She spent a lot of time trying various jobs, apparently working as an accountant for some time. At some point; Vahlka fell in with a powerful drow noblewoman named Kiare Feltouch, and the two were slated to be married before the relationship fell apart for reasons unknown. Vahlka claims that Kiare still bares a grudge to this day and has attempted to assassinate her several times. Around the same time her sister Andrith was arrested for theft from the Empress of Umbravall and locked within Deephold; but the details were always 'need to know' and Vahlka never found out the truth of her crimes. At the age of 130, Vahlka joined the Nightwardens, working within the Deephold as a prison guard. She met with Andrith within the prison, at great personal risk, but her sister refused to speak with her. At some point in her time as a prison guard she also briefly encountered the ancient red dragon, Daggerspine as well as the lich Amber Vaillow. Later on, at about 200 years old, Vahlka was deployed to The Vastlands to fight in the conflict with the sand elves. There she met the archer Neron Duskheart and got into all sorts of trouble with him. Vahlka has a lot of ridiculous stories involving him. She also met the blue dragon, Erasthekon (or Kon for short) and supposedly broke her hand trying to punch him, then later befriended him by offering him something to smoke. At some point during Vahlka's time in the Vastlands, Neron met his death - although she has not said why or how she claims it was her fault and is very sensitive about the subject. At some point during her deployment there; Daggerspine escaped Deephold, blowing a massive hole in the prison and freeing a slew of criminals; including Andrith. The Nightwardens wanted to pursue the escaped criminals, but obtaining necessary paperwork and clearance levels took the better part of five years. Vahlka insisted on finding Andrith herself; insisting that she needed to know the truth of what her sister had done. Her search got her deployed to Shad'ro Widowvane's unit; and she spent several months travelling across Teshol, hitting every major city in the search for the escaped Deephold prisoners. Her search for Andrith eventually led her to Shark's Maw Isle where she met the rest of the part and found her first clues towards finding Andrith. Relationships Vahlka's relationship with the rest of the party tends to be rather strained, as she's of a very different moral and social background than any of them. Olivia Rousseau Vahlka's relationship wildly varies from adoration to frustration by the minute. She finds Olivia to be extremely endearing and enjoys talking with her most of the time. However, she also finds Olivia's blind optimism, faith, and blatant refusal to accept even a modicum of responsibility for her actions to be incredibly infuriating. Vahlka has a healthy respect for Olivia's magical power and ability to charm her way through any situation. Yet the two often butt heads over moral quandaries. Vahlka enjoys Olivia's company but tends to think of her as an impulsive and ultimately extremely foolish child. Sometimes Vahlka has to take a step back and remind herself that she is a hundred and eighty years older than the half-elf and that the surface world is very different from what she is accustomed to. Vahlka calls Olivia "Liv" for short, and has been known to bust out the condescending "Kid." once or twice. Barkley Bayle Vahlka's relationship with Barkley is a strange one. She originally thought of the gnome as more of a joke than anything else as she seemed impulsive, not much in a fight, and ill-educated. However since then Barkley has shown her worth in situations both combat and social and Vahlka has developed a sort of begrudging admiration for the gnome. She certainly enjoys Barkley's penchant for mischief and willingness to obey her. Still, Vahlka is prone to underestimating her small companions wisdom and magical talent - thinking of her more as a minion than as a real person. Vahlka tends to call Barkley "Half-Pint" as a demeaning yet affectionate nickname. Godfrey Conner Vahlka finds Godfrey to be more than a little disconcerting but mostly harmless. She has little respect for the old man and mostly enjoys plying the affable warlock for free drinks. Vahlka refers to Godfrey almost exclusively as "Grampa." and very rarely uses his real name. Boris He's a good spider, too pure. Deacon Rothford Vahlka's initial reaction to Deacon was irritation which quickly grew to extreme vitriol as his relationship with Andrith was revealed and he suggested that her sister despised her and wanted nothing to do with her any further. Were it not for Olivia's intervention Vahlka would have most likely tried to kill Deacon. However, she begrudgingly backed off when the cleric saved her life twice in one day. Now, the two have a sort of begrudging "i guess you're alright" that has slowly grown into something vaguely resembling actual affection since Deacon gave her Andrith's Journal. She finds him to be very endearing and actually enjoys his company to a degree. Recently the two have been reserved but friendly toward one another, bonding over hating the same things and telling Olivia to leave them alone. Deacon's nickname is typically just "Deek" though she has been known to call him "Gloomy" or "Raincloud" upon occasion. Orienna Vahlka thinks Orienna is cute as hell and would probably hit that given half a chance. She also finds her intelligence to be somewhat intimidating and respects the tiefling more than one might suspect. Vahlka likes the tiefling about as much as she likes anyone and wants to know more about her yet also respects her enough not to pry. Other Interesting Facts * Vahlka is somewhat agoraphobic due to living her entire life underground and particularly fears and loathes open water and flying. * Tends to nickname people she likes. * Doesn't recognize most surface animals by name or by sight. * Can and will eat anything. * Cares about her spider Boris more than she does 99% of people. * Used to play the cello...but its been sixty years so she is probably terrible at it now. Relevant Quotes * "The trick is to be feared, not to fear." — Vahlka, pretending she's not a huge nerdbaby. * "I'm entirely too sober to deal with either of you." — Vahlka, rolling her eyes at Barkley and Olivia. * "She's g-got a point, you know. Or, well... something like a p-point and a lot of p-points, if you're using a d-d...different metaphor. Like a hedgehog, that one." — Deacon, about Vahlka. * "She thinks she's this terrible, awful, monster evil drow person who murdered her friend and that ISN'T true." — Olivia, in denial, again. Category:Major Characters Category:Player Characters